Celestial Signs; Sun, Moon, Stars, Sky: Noctilucent Clouds

Night shining clouds have as their causes, solar influences and gasses in the high atmosphere.

The turbulent sun periodically has sunspots and these are precursors to more violent events like the Coronal Mass Ejection.

One of the effects of sunspots is increased aurora as depicted in this painting by Frederick Edwin Church.

A contemporary photograph of an Aurora Borealis is one among a wide selection available as this is a hot topic for photographers. These dispalys are caused most frequently during solar storms.

Just after sunset, or just before sunrise, you may see noctilucent or night shining clouds that are caused by solar radiation exciting hydrogen atom at the edge of space, typically at 80 to 100 kilometres up,

This photo shows a twilight occurrence of noctilucent clouds. These clouds are becoming increasingly common due to methane breakdown and hydrogen sulfide rising high into the atmosphere.

This is another example of noctilucent clouds, again seen near the daylight-darkness terminator. The glow is caused by the photoelectric effect at the blue end of the visible spectrum for hydrogen.

Night shining clouds are strange, beautiful, interesting and ominous.

From
astrological configurations, to eclipses, occultations, sunspots and
CMEs, comets, aurora, meteoroids, ball lightning, bolts from the
blue, sprites, UFOs to noctilucent or night shining clouds there is a
huge variety of peculiar sky visions, each with its own associated
mythical meaning. It is also true that in a changing cosmos and a
changing earth. Each one of these events has its own cycle and some
occur in lockstep with celestial changes or changes on the earth. An
example of the former is the synchronicity between sunspot cycles and
aurora. For the latter, we see a match up with increasing methane and
noctilucent clouds. As most of us are familiar with the link between
sunspots, Coronal Mass Ejections with aurora on earth, we will
instead go to a topic for which most people are not aware; the
noctilucent clouds that are becoming increasingly frequent.

Just
as in anything else, there is a cycle between manifestations on earth
that match sky events. For noctilucent or night shining clouds, that
match is linked from earth to sky in contradistinction to the usual
manifestation of sky to earth. Now the operative cause comes from the
sky, but the medium comes from the earth. The sun plays a part in
causing these clouds to glow in typical blue colour, but the clouds
get there from the earth itself. The cyclical part comes from the
aperiodic release of methane from the earth. Lately, there has been a
sharp increase in the sighting of this usually rare phenomenon. They
were seen in 2003 in space from the International Space Station and
were photographed by astronauts. Since then, they have been
photographed from the ground in various locations all over the
planet. They occur typically from 80 to 100 kilometres at the edge of
space. Incoming radiation from the sun causes them to glow and they
are typically seen near dawn or dusk.

The
first sighting was recorded in 1885, after the eruption of Krakatoa
that injected large amounts of dust 80 kilometres into the
stratosphere. But they have been increasing in frequency in the last
few years. Thus, at least one source appears to be volcanic dust. But
not just anything in the dust, it is a specific part. That clue comes
from contemporary times with a large and accelerating injection of
the greenhouse gas methane. Methane rises into the atmosphere and is
broken down by ultra-violet radiation from the sun in the upper
atmosphere. From there, the hydrogen leaks into space. Once there,
ionizing radiation excites the hydrogen, causing it to glow electric
blue due to the photoelectric effect. So we can trace the Krakatoa
incident to hydrogen released from hydrogen sulphide by a similar
process of breaking down by ultraviolet radiation that releases the
hydrogen that then rises into space and is ionized.

Every
now and then, prodigious quantities of methane are released into the
atmosphere to rise, be disassociated into the various elements that
make it up, allowing the hydrogen to escape into space. This can
happen, because the earth and oceans contain a large amount of
methane in its frozen state. Methane freezes easily under pressure,
but can be released with increasing heat. With global warming, a lot
more of it is being released from the melting permafrost, so
theoreticians are on the right track when they trace the increasing
appearance of noctilucent clouds with an increase of methane. Modern
farming processes are also adding substantially to the release of
methane. Thus there are two modern sources. This means that these
electric blue wispy clouds are related to global warming,
particularity since methane is a greenhouse gas itself.

The
reduction and increasing chaotic nature of the geomagnetosphere
during the current reversal process allows solar radiation of all
kinds to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere. Noctilucent clouds
thus have the potential of forming lower in the atmosphere. It might
even happen that we see these clouds at the same level as
stratospheric clouds are now. In addition to methane causing them by
the release of hydrogen, once ionizing solar radiation reaches deeper
into the atmosphere, the disassociation of water can occur causing an
increase in noctilucent activity. This is not the first time this has
occurred. There was the 1885 event. Then there is the great release
of methane 12,600 years ago. In the span measured in a couple of
decades, the mean average temperature of the rose by five degrees
Celsius. In that time, the first great post ice age melt down
occurred raising sea level by at leat 200 feet “virtually
overnight”. It is now though that a comet or asteroid smashed into
the Laurentide ice sheet causing not only a flash meltdown, but a
substantial release of methane that shows up in ice cores dated for
that period.

At
that time, the appearance of noctilucent clouds would have been
sudden and intense and likely lasting for years until the earth
normalized from the sudden change. We can suggest this as a
possibility, because the rising level of methane today is increasing
the frequency of the appearance of night shining clouds. Though
interesting and beautiful to witness and photograph as some have,
they are also an ominous sign of increasing global warming. Methane
is a potent greenhouse gas. The recent disaster of the BP oil spill
in the gulf of Mexico has added to the mix, sour gas, or hydrogen
sulphide that will add to the contribution. Noctilucent or night
shining clouds will thus become a more frequent event.

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Noctilucent Cloud 6 years ago

Noctilucent Cloud is an unusual phenomenon of the Earth's upper-atmosphere. They are most often seen at times close to the summer solstice, when they appear against the backdrop of deep evening twilights.

Climate models predict that increased greenhouse gas emissions cause a cooling of the mesosphere, which would lead to more frequent and widespread occurrences of noctilucent clouds.